Sara Emmerson: Hello everyone, and welcome back to That Sounds Risky. I'm your host, Sara Emmerson, coach, speaker, and founder of Sara Emmerson Coaching. This is the podcast where we explore the courageous decisions that shape our lives. Every guest has a story of stepping into the unknown and trusting the process while they're discovering that some of life's greatest rewards come from the other side of risk. Today's conversation is especially meaningful to me because my guest isn't just an incredible leader, musician, and author, he's also my dad. I've had the privilege of watching him live a life marked with faith, adventure, resilience, and a willingness to say yes when most people would've said no. His example has shaped so much of who I am and the way that I lead and the risks I've been willing to take throughout my own life. For decades, Stan Endicott has inspired people around the world through his music, Speaking, mentorship, writing, and leadership. He's the author of several different books, and he lives an incredible, significant life that impacts so many people time and time again. So, Dad, welcome to That Sounds Risky. I'm so glad to have you here.

Stan Endicott: And I'm happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Sara Emmerson: Well, of course. Thank you for saying yes.

Stan Endicott: I—

Sara Emmerson: well, actually, I don't know that you had a choice. I just kind of said, Dad, you're coming. Good. on this podcast. And so here you are. Um, well, I just wanna start at the beginning. For those that haven't had the privilege of meeting you, tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey and what has brought you to this space in your life and legacy so far.

Stan Endicott: I've heard recently that it's important to pause, so I'm pausing. Sir Ken Robinson from the UK, who passed away a few years ago, Says that as we get older, we become less playful. And I think that, you know, when you're— and Picasso says every, every person, every child is, is a natural-born artist. So you can put Crayolas and paintbrushes and pencils, markers in the hands of a little kid, especially if there's 2 or 3 kids because they get energy off each other. And if you ask them to paint a tree or an elephant or anything, a clown or their picture of their grandpa, they're not going to hesitate. They're just going to go for it.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: So the older we get, the less we have, the least, or the, as we get older, we have less and less go for it. And I have found that people, as they get older, are too embarrassed to go for it and to try.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: So as a kid, For me, growing up in a little village in southern Illinois with a railroad track running right through the center of town. I remember that. Uh, we could ride our bikes down that railroad track. Uh, we could make slingshots and shoot out streetlights, and we could take our BB guns and shoot birds, and which Probably a good idea. So when you get to be about 14 or 15, you start the very beginning of losing that. Um, Sarah, your daughter Lila, who's now 15, Mm-hmm. she's lost some of that already. When— as when she was a little, little girl. Uh, and then when you get to be 20, uh, you, you're locked up. And from 20 to 50 is when people think that play, being playful, is, uh, above them or below them. And so taking risks is all about being playful. And so I believe that getting people to be playful throughout their adult lives is one of the characteristics of living that absolutely will bring amazing results. Most people, when they get older, they clam up and they go, well, that— I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to draw a picture. I'm not going to paint. I'm not going to try to learn how to play the flute or a guitar.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: And by the way, guitar players are like ice skaters. They don't get any better after they're 19. Hmm. Why do you think so? Unless they discipline themselves and commit to what is called intentional practice. There's a book by Anders Ericsson called Peak, P-E-A-K, and he talks about the 10,000-hour rule. To be a virtuoso that Malcolm Gladwell talks about. He said, the problem is most people do more than— they'll do 10,000 hours or more, but after 2,000 hours, the next 8,000, they just keep doing the same thing. You don't get better. So trying to improve and trying to stretch yourself and improve your skills is all about Taking risks and being playful.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah. And I, I totally agree with what you're saying. We see that obviously when kids are young, they just try anything. And as they grow up, they— we all start to question that, like, oh, should I really start this hobby? Should I really try that job? Should I really look into this career? One thing that you're seeing right now, even with Lila, you mentioned, like, she— yeah, she's not in the same place she was when she was in kindergarten. But, um, one thing I appreciate about, appreciate about her right now is she's never played golf before. And she just decided last week, she's like, I think I should maybe go out for the golf team. And, um, because a couple friends were, and so she's still in a season where she's like, yeah, let's, let's try it. Why not? Let's go for it. And that, that grittiness is still there, but you do see that grittiness dissipate over time. Um, our son Lincoln started playing guitar because of a hardship. He, had injured himself and he started playing guitar and really working on that. And I see these hobbies that right now they have the time and energy and their parents' help to help make it possible. But once you get out of that teenage years, like you were saying in peak, you hit that 19-year-old age and how do you see that people are able to continue? Because people do get better. What do you see that are the disciplines that people put in place in order to prioritize that?

Stan Endicott: Well, one of the reasons that Lila's willing to try to start playing golf is because she has— she was very playful as a little girl and, uh, to try things. The thing you don't want to ever put on your refrigerator for your kids is Uh, remember, you can do anything you put your mind to. That's just not true. That's just not true. And you don't want to feed a child that stuff. You don't want to feed anybody that stuff. It's just not true. So what you want to do is to, uh, be open to experiencing and to, uh, Try things you've never tried before. And oftentimes you want to do it by yourself because you, you're embarrassed to try it in front of other people. Now, Lila playing golf, she will learn more playing golf in the backyard by herself than going to Topgolf with 5 other girls.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: You, you have a tendency to want to do that, uh, by yourself. But, uh, uh, having a visionary— a vision kind of a mentality about the future, uh, you know, one of the things I hate about GPS is that that's a road that everybody's going to go down. Just turn it off and figure— and stop at a gas station and ask somebody where it is. You cannot experience life by going down the same road everybody else goes down.

Sara Emmerson: I totally agree. And then I also remember not too long ago when you decided that you and I should try to get home. Without that. And we turned it off and we—

Stan Endicott: It was at a hotel. We were on a trip. I said, we're going to go someplace, but on the way back, we're going to turn GPS off. If we'd taken GPS, uh, if, if we would have followed GPS, we'd been back in 12 or 13 minutes. I think we were gone 40, 45 minutes. Right.

Sara Emmerson: But it was an adventure and we did.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: We did learn a lot more.

Stan Endicott: And most people are absolutely too agendatized. And they want to accomplish things all the time. You have— in order to take risks, you have to be willing to waste time.

Sara Emmerson: Hmm.

Stan Endicott: And by waste time, it's like, uh, how do you have time to read a book? How do you have time to, you know, to take a walk or to go on a hike? How do you have time? Most people think that a lot of the mundane things that we do, that we enjoy, are a waste of time, and most people don't make time for it. That's where you find the gold, is when you are researching and dreaming. And there's a great video by John Cleese of Monty Python about Creativity. And he talks about there's a particular time in every day that you are more likely to be at your best. So, so when you— but most people think that your best energy should be at getting things done. I think it's opposite. Your best energy is when you are researching and dreaming. And then, because you— when your energy is low, And you're kind of on the boredom kind of a thing, that's when you can get the to-do list done. But use your best energy and time to research and to dream.

Sara Emmerson: That's something that I can even say, knowing you my whole life, um, I've always seen even in your busiest seasons, because I would always tell people growing up, um, they would say, where does your dad work? And I was like, I don't know, he has like 12 full-time jobs. I have no idea. Like, he, uh, where doesn't he work? Because your interests were always in multiple areas and, um, you were always going after things. You had the same 24 hours as everyone else did. You were very, a very present dad. You, I never remember you missing any of our stuff. You made time, um, for all of that. And you had time to dream. How is it that you were able to work in so many different industries? You're a music producer. You worked in churches and nonprofits. You led choirs. You did all of these amazing things, obviously have led large companies, and yet you still had the time to dream. How is it that you did that?

Stan Endicott: Our interests change over time. In order to keep your energy towards something, it's a very simple, very simple process. Chase the things that you are keenly interested in. I did a consulting job with an organization, a church in Northern California. They asked me to talk to their 30 staff, about 30 people on their staff. And I said, they said, we want you to talk to them after lunch. I said, what do you want me to talk to them about? And they said, we don't care, whatever you want.

Sara Emmerson: Okay.

Stan Endicott: So I— they introduced me. They had never heard of me really. And I said, what are you guys keenly interested in? Long pause. And I just let the pause just slate.

Sara Emmerson: Sit there. Yeah, sit there for a long time.

Stan Endicott: It was crickets. And pretty soon somebody said, Do you mean like at work or— And I would not answer them. I just said, what are you keenly interested in? Crickets, long pause. And finally, this about a 19-year-old kid raised his hand and he said, I would like to be a storm chaser. And everybody turned around and said, what? He said, I've always wanted to do it. I said, well, I've got a buddy who's a pastor of a giant church in Oklahoma City. I can call him and you could go there and in the tornado season, I guarantee you could chase some tornadoes.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: But people never think that a crazy thought could ever become a reality. Another guy said, I'm very interested in linguistics. And everybody turned around, and the executive director of that church told me that that one question caused more conversation among the staff than anything that had ever been asked.

Sara Emmerson: Wow.

Stan Endicott: But, so stay collaborative. One of the things that I intentionally do is, first of all, I go to lunch with somebody, a new person every month that I've never met before. Anne Lamott, the great author, says people need to upgrade their friends. Friends are so wonderful, but you've got to have new ones in order to have new thoughts.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: So one of the things that That I've learned to do is call 5 people. So at least every other day, call 2 or 3 people with no agenda. Hey, I was thinking about this. What do you think about this? You continually ask people and check your thoughts. I'm thinking maybe about Changing my career. What are you thinking about? You gotta be in conversations.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: Collaboration is a— I wouldn't, I wouldn't even say it's a lost art. It's not an art. Typically people are not willing because, because somewhere in the Declaration of Independence it says that meetings are supposed to last an hour and 10 minutes.

Sara Emmerson: Yep.

Stan Endicott: And, uh, people, you know, and by the way, the other challenge is on Zoom, like what we're doing now, there's no hallway talk. So trying to get people on Zoom to talk about, you know, they got a new dog, uh, about their little boy that, that, uh, peeing in the rocks behind their house. And, uh, there's Zoom. You have to work real hard at getting small talk.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: But I, I'm, I'm committed to that when I'm on Zoom calls. Be with people, have conversations, ask questions. Uh, I, I have, um, about 250 questions that I have developed And so be in practice of asking questions. That's how you take risks is you ask questions constantly. You will find out stuff.

Sara Emmerson: And not just to other people, you're asking those questions to and of yourself too, correct?

Stan Endicott: Yeah, you're always checking out. And if you write it down, and by the way, if you can't write it down, you don't understand it. So when you have a thought, like, uh, I was gonna start a, uh, like a discount tire store with a buddy of mine years ago.

Sara Emmerson: Really?

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: I didn't even know that.

Stan Endicott: Oh yeah. And, uh, he took on finding out where we could have them manufactured. Okay. And it was gonna be a kind of—

Sara Emmerson: How many years ago was this?

Stan Endicott: It doesn't matter. Several.

Sara Emmerson: Okay.

Stan Endicott: I also, uh, tried to do a driver's training video with, uh, what's the, the car company that's always so safe, they say?

Sara Emmerson: AAA?

Stan Endicott: Well, yeah, with AAA. But, uh, so I knew this guy that was a producer on The Price is Right. I called him and said, would you help me? design this video or produce a video for, for kids. And I got all the way to Ford Motor Company in Detroit, and I never pulled it off, but it was a heck of a lot of fun to try.

Sara Emmerson: So, Dad, you've done a lot. Like, this podcast is called That Sounds Risky. And one of the reasons I enjoy taking risks, and I think that I have a higher risk tolerance than some is because I've witnessed you being willing to do it and not caring. It's like the outcome for you was never the ultimate goal. For you, the journey of taking the risk was just as important, if not more important, than the outcome. So I've seen you do things like that. You also tell the story about what you did with Southwest Airlines.

Stan Endicott: Oh, well, our company at the time was called the Slingshot Group, which is a basically headhunters for churches and nonprofits.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: And I'm a crazy culture guy. And by the way, my new word for culture is soul. What's the soul of your organization? What's the soul of, uh, your company, of your team? And so, uh, I was on a Southwest flight and, uh, I realized that they, they had a great reputation because of Herb Kelleher, who was the founder of Southwest. I've heard a lot about their culture. So I have a buddy who's a captain with Southwest Airlines, and I asked him if he could help me find who's in charge of the culture, uh, now that Herb Kelleher was not involved. Who's in charge of the culture? And he finally found this name for me. I emailed this lady in Southwest Airlines. I said, I've heard so many things about Southwest Airlines. I want to improve the culture of the soul of our company. Would you have— could I spend some time with you? And after 6 tries to her assistant, they— she said, okay. Uh, she said that she would meet with you, so I flew, uh, flew down there and interviewed her. Now, the other one that you're talking about is, uh, which was a different trip. I wanted to produce a children's, uh, book and children's videos for Southwest Airlines because they didn't have anything for kids that I could see. So I went down there and we happened to be there. It was on the day before Halloween and Southwest Airlines for Halloween. It's like, you cannot believe the outfits and the costumes. So me and my buddy, we rented a spider outfit, a 2-man spider outfit, and walked in.

Sara Emmerson: Like you guys were connected together?

Stan Endicott: We were connected together, walked into the marketing meeting as 2 spiders.

Sara Emmerson: Oh my goodness.

Stan Endicott: And nothing ever came from it.

Sara Emmerson: But in those moments, it's still worth it to you.

Stan Endicott: Why? Well, the stories are just so much better than if it did work.

Sara Emmerson: It is. It's so true.

Stan Endicott: I mean, let's face it. If you're, if you're having pizza with somebody and some drinks and you go, let me tell you about things I've done in my life that have really went well.

Sara Emmerson: Right. People are next.

Stan Endicott: Boring.

Sara Emmerson: Right.

Stan Endicott: We gotta be, we probably need to head out.

Sara Emmerson: Do you remember the time you took— go ahead. What were you gonna say?

Stan Endicott: No, you go.

Sara Emmerson: I was gonna say, remember the time you took me to the, um, Hollywood Bowl to see Carla Bonoff?

Stan Endicott: Oh yeah.

Sara Emmerson: And we got in line afterwards and I was just, you had just bought me my first guitar and I was super inspired and I thought, you know what, I'm gonna ask her. if she would give me lessons and if I could, if I could meet with her sometime. And we stood in that line for a while.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: And we got up to her and I said, I'm just wondering, got really brave. I was probably, I don't know, 19, 20. I'm just wondering if I could ever meet with you and if you might be willing to give me some lessons. And, uh, and she was really kind, but she kindly said, no, I won't. I was like, oh, okay. and then just walked away. But I'm really glad that I, I asked. At least I asked.

Stan Endicott: Another good exercise about taking risk: if you're 25 or 40, 60 years old, you do a timeline of when you were a kid. It might have been a An art teacher when you were in the 4th grade. But at what point did a particular person believe in you? And what did, what did, what did you take from that person? Your favorite teacher could be a neighbor, it could be a relative, it could be a coach, uh, whatever. But you just— And what you will find Is that the most— the people that have impacted you the most are not people that you asked them to. They just did it. That's what mentoring's all about. Mentoring is thumb printing. It's not coaching or training. Mentoring is thumb printing. So the— I've identified 12 people in my life that have mentored me, and not one of them did I ask them to. So who in your life So if you want to mentor others, you look for chemistry with a person, not a contractual relationship.

Sara Emmerson: Okay. And how did you identify that they were mentoring you? Was it just from the inspiration? It was from the information they were sharing? Was it regular meetings with them? Like, what is it that—

Stan Endicott: well, the area was to The early ones, like Charlie Crane, was my 7th grade teacher. And I mean, he just— I got the opportunity at my mom, at your Grandma Annie's funeral, to talk to him after 50 years, probably.

Sara Emmerson: Wow.

Stan Endicott: And I told him, what you did for me when I was in 7th grade has been one of the most impactful things in my life. So you may be young, you may be 18, 19, 20 years old, who, who has done that? And then, then you just repeat that and you look for people that you have good chemistry with, the people that believe in you. Uh, but you have to be able to meet people. And the biggest risk that anybody can take is the risk of putting yourself out there and meeting somebody and having a conversation with And 60%, 70% of the time it never goes anywhere. But 30% of the time it will go somewhere.

Sara Emmerson: And would you say that through— I mean, you've had a very successful career in multiple different industries. Would you say that that was the key to so many of your opportunities, was just your willingness to step out and have conversations with people and Continue, like you said, 6 times you emailed that lady. You didn't get frustrated or discouraged. You didn't take it as a, she doesn't want to talk to me after the first or second time. Would you say those conversations and that grit is what got you to where you are?

Stan Endicott: 2 words that do not, that should not appear in one sentence is risk and grit.

Sara Emmerson: Okay. Why? Because I probably have used them together before. So tell me why I shouldn't.

Stan Endicott: Grit has the connotation of, dang it, I'm going to keep going. And everybody tells you, you know, like every— at the Academy Awards or at the Grammys, people, you know, some artists will get up there and they'll be crying. This look, just put your dream out there and never give up. It can happen to any of you. It happened to me. You know, I, I mean, I just, I just die when I hear those speeches. Uh, it's just not true. Uh, so you gotta know when to back off. So taking risk, there's been people that I've tried to connect with And after 2 or 3 times, maybe 4, it didn't work. So I gave it, I, I didn't give up. I just switched.

Sara Emmerson: So you shifted your, your energy to something else.

Stan Endicott: So if you're, if you've been trying something for a long time, you probably have been trying too long.

Sara Emmerson: Okay. So as far as, as far as how do you, how do you quantify that? Is that an, for you personally, is that an internal knowing? Is that a, hey, I'm gonna back off and see what happens?

Stan Endicott: It's also a part of calling 5 people. It's like, hey, you know, you call a couple of your friends and you go, I've been thinking about this. I've been trying it. It's not working. Maybe I should just give it up. So you got to be willing to, to know when to stop and just keep trying can be Very, uh, can be very demoralizing.

Sara Emmerson: So having those trusted mentors or coaches or voices around you that can speak truth into, into your continued trying or continued risking.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: Um, and then even like you were saying, like, when I, I resonate with you in the, somebody's saying, you know, you just keep trying, it can happen for you too. It can happen for some of you. It won't happen for everyone in the same way because everyone doesn't have the same skill. Everyone doesn't have the same— I talk about this, I just talked about this on a podcast a little bit ago. There is something to the likability factor. There's people that are really talented, but they just aren't kind or they're not relational, and there's not a likability factor. If you lack that, You can keep trying over and over again, but you might be hitting that wall. So you're saying keep trying, but continue to get the input from other people as to whether or not it's time to shift to something else.

Stan Endicott: Yeah. Um, I would— the problem with people who work at home.

Sara Emmerson: Which you and I both work at home.

Stan Endicott: Yeah. But I go to lunch with people or have coffee with people like 5 or 6 times a week.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: You have to go to lunch with people that would— don't have lunch with somebody that's only got an hour. My sweet spot, it happened yesterday. I went to lunch with a guy yesterday here in Chicago.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: And we had a great conversation and it worked very well for me and very well for him, I think. And when I walked back to the car, I looked at my phone, it was exactly 90 minutes. So you got to have, you got to spend time with people that are willing to give you 90 minutes. Now, there will be some, but some people that only give you 10, and that's fine. In that case, you just got to have like spear-jabbing questions.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Uh, I met a very famous pastor a few years ago at a conference, and I got back in the green room. A buddy of mine took me back there. And I had met this guy and never had— I had never met him before, but I wanted to. And I thought, what am I going to say to this guy? I'm a huge fan of Gustavo Dudamel, the conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: And I told him, I said, do you— I said, I'm happy to— I didn't say I'm happy to know you. That's not a good place to start, by the way. Oh, you need to get right into it. And I said, I'm a fan of Gustavo Dudamel, the conductor of the LA Philharmonic. Gustavo Dudamel, when he steps up to the podium and gets ready to conduct the orchestra, it seems that the orchestra plays better for him than any other conductor I've ever known or that I've observed. I think you're like Gustavo Dudamel. When you're with people, they seem to do better.

Sara Emmerson: Hmm.

Stan Endicott: That was like a minute and a half.

Sara Emmerson: What did he say?

Stan Endicott: He was taken aback. And, uh, I could have followed up with him to meet with him. I still might someday. But it's— you've— if you're go— if you only got 5 minutes or 3 minutes, find— practice questioning. And write the questions out. I rehearsed that comment about Gustave Dudamel to him before, uh, before I ever met him. I knew I was going to get to see him that afternoon, but I knew I was going to tell him the Gustave Dudamel analogy.

Sara Emmerson: So you had thought about that ahead of time and practiced it?

Stan Endicott: Absolutely. So you've got to have a, you've got to have a, a book of great questions to ask To the people that you may not get very much time with.

Sara Emmerson: I've heard you say this many, many times that the most spontaneous people are actually the most practiced. So though it looks like you're spontaneous, and which you do have that spontaneous side to you.

Stan Endicott: Yeah, the most spontaneous people are the most prepared.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: And You can tell. I mean, like, I've watched musicians do that. I've watched professors do that. Pastors do that. It's like, oh my gosh, you can tell.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: If a person is If a person is prepared. And so the reason that I can play the piano in any key is not because I'm so spontaneous. The reason I can is because I practiced 4 hours a day for 7 years.

Sara Emmerson: Hmm.

Stan Endicott: So the only way to get better is to get, is to get at it.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Whether it's, whether it's speaking or singing or teaching or sports or whatever. Um, and that, that book I mentioned, Anders Ericsson, about peak, it's what are the things that, that you do that you're weak in? And you go, Or if it's a, if you're a soccer player, you're not good with both feet, you better work on that left foot a lot. Um, so you've got to identify the things that you're, the vehicle that you're using in your life to move forward. What are the things about that that need improvement and that you need to spend time on?

Sara Emmerson: Yeah, no, that's, that's really good. So every person on this podcast and Always has risks that they took in different areas of their life that impacted them and set them on a trajectory. If I was to ask you what risk that first comes to mind when you think of the one that really set you up to do what you do today, and maybe it didn't work out, but, or it did, either way. What risk comes to mind for you, Dad?

Stan Endicott: Preparation gave me— preparation and practice gave me the confidence to take a risk. So when I was in college, I went to 3 different colleges in one semester. I hated school. I finally found this little school that would let me be a music composition major, and that's where I practiced 4 hours a day for 7 years. When Connie, your mom, my wife, got— when we got married, I had just finished 7 years of learning how to orchestrate, write string arrangements, and all kinds of music production stuff. We decided to move to California in 1975.

Sara Emmerson: Did you have a job?

Stan Endicott: I had no job. What? You just decided that was going to be the best place? The little college that I went to, I was a big duck in a tiny, tiny pool. You don't want to go to school someplace where you're not going to have an opportunity to try.

Sara Emmerson: Hmm.

Stan Endicott: The last thing you want to do, if any of you have kids that are in sports and you— your kids got an opportunity to be on the best team in the, in the city and they're going to ride the bench, terrible idea.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Put them on a— put them where they're going to be able to play infield and bat every time.

Sara Emmerson: Yep.

Stan Endicott: And so The thing that's interesting is being a big duck in a small pond gave me confidence to go to compete with the best producers in, in Los Angeles. I was prepared. And they said, can you do this? I go, well, yeah. I— can you write string arrangements? Yeah. Can you do this kind of arranging? Yeah, can you do vocal production? Yeah, I can. I said it boldly with a contrite spirit and humble— humbleness about it, but I had prepared. And so for me and, and your mom to move to California with no job— I was 25 years old and she was 21.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: And her dad was a farmer and my dad had that little furniture store in Southern Illinois. They thought, well, they were both gracious and were willing for me to try. But I got out there and I was out of work 2 weeks. And I didn't slow down for 40 years out there.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah. Did people— was it— would it be true to say that people took risks on you? When you got there?

Stan Endicott: Of course.

Sara Emmerson: That part of what made your trajectory so great was other people's willingness to take a risk on you?

Stan Endicott: Yeah. Uh, you have to have some kind of a proven record, some kind of proof that you've accomplished something.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Otherwise, you know, they're not gonna they're not going to give you a look. Right. But I had done a lot of arranging by the time before I got out there. And a couple of people that I knew vouched for me, said, yeah, you better give this guy a chance. And that's, that's how it happened.

Sara Emmerson: Well, you've done that for so many people over the years, where you've taken risks on people, obviously people that have had proven track records or people you have relationships with or things like that. But I even think of musicians and people that, um, you took risks on and helped when they were in seasons of need. And then later, I'm thinking of, uh, George and Shannon. You want to tell that story about how you were working with them?

Stan Endicott: And then— Yeah, I was in Seattle. Uh, this was 1980 and '81, and you were probably 3 or 4 years old, Sarah. Nate, your brother was a year younger than you. And I decided— I went up there to work for this really big church up there, and I didn't like it. I didn't like what I was doing, and so I quit after 6 months.

Sara Emmerson: So you'd move your whole family somewhere and decide this isn't working.

Stan Endicott: Moved the whole family up there, and I go— I told Connie, I said, I'm not going to do this. So I went downtown Seattle and got a job in a recording studio.

Sara Emmerson: In those moments, let me back up for a second. In those moments, what did mom say when you'd come home and be like, I'm done?

Stan Endicott: Um, any crazy idea I've ever had, she never resisted or pulled back or tried to talk me out of it. Wow. I mean, there's like 12 times. And so—

Sara Emmerson: Only 12? I would think there's probably—

Stan Endicott: Well, it's probably more like 50.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: But I had been recording in, in LA, Orange County a lot. So I had a network of great musicians. Went up there, I didn't have any. So I started producing records in Seattle. And I didn't know any, any musicians. So I went to a, a bar and listened to this bass player, and I go, hey, I'm a producer, I'm going to be doing some projects. Who do you— who's the best guitar player in Seattle? And he told me. And who's the best singers? Because I need some background vocalists. And, uh, he told me that George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam were the, the very best. And I go, do you have their number? He says, no, but my buddy probably does. I said, can you give me their number? So I called him. I said, I'm new to town and I'm— I've heard you guys are great singers and I'd like to have you come and sing on a project for me. And they came and they were amazing. Very, very professional. And, uh, we did several projects together. One day George said, Stan, come up to my cabin up in the woods here north of Seattle. And I'm gonna play some of the songs I've written and see what you think. And I go, fantastic. So I went up there and had a little old cabin that was, you know, Seattle, it rains most every day, and it was damp and cold. He had a little piano out on the back porch. He said, I'm getting ready to send this song to the publisher to see what they think, but I'd really like your opinion. So George sat down and hit the first chord, and he started like this. Boom. I wanna dance with somebody. I wanna feel the heat with somebody. I was the first person to ever hear that song outside of— I heard it before the publishers, before the publisher even heard it.

Sara Emmerson: So good.

Stan Endicott: But, uh, I've stayed, you know, I've recently stayed in touch or got back in touch with him. And, um, so taking risks is— I just, because of technology and because of social media, the idea of getting a job and staying in it for 30 years Well, that can work for people. But even if you are in that kind of job, what can you— like if you're a 7th grade math teacher and you're going to probably teach math in 7th grade for 30 years, what can you do at year 6 or year 15 to reinvigorate it and to— Bring energy to it and to find new ways to do it. And the only way you'll do it is to talk to other people.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah, I see that in so much of the incredible people that I get to work with too, is that they might be doing something, they might be a teacher, or they might be something that has a longer a longer lifespan to their, their career than an entrepreneur or things like that. But they do want to start creating other things. I mean, obviously now being bivocational is way more common than it was when you were doing that so many years ago. And so, yeah, I would say that that's one of the things that I talk to people about too. Sometimes we get to a place— I see this with creatives and artists, whether they're working in an agency or in a church or in other places. you get there and you put all of your expectations for your desires and your creativity and stuff into that one place, and then you get disillusioned or disappointed or disgruntled because they won't let me do this and I really wanna work on this. And I'm always asking, well, why is it their responsibility to let you do all of your creative ideas?

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: Nowadays there's so many opportunities. You can go and work on that creative project, whether you're doing that for your 9 to 5 or not. And so, um, what would you say to people that are doing a 9 to 5 but have all these other ideas and, and energy, um, and are questioning that?

Stan Endicott: If you're in, if you're in a real tight organization that's top to bottom, which is opposite what it should be, it should be bottom, but, um, leaders don't like ideas.

Sara Emmerson: Why do you think that is?

Stan Endicott: They've worked so hard to get where they are with what they've done that if you're on staff with them and you come and bring them an idea, it's kind of like a fly in your face. They go, I don't need any more ideas. Now there's a process that I use called going north. It's like, it's actually a military, uh, concept where you go north on the enemy. Now if you're in an organization, or, and if you have a boss person to whom you're accountable, don't underestimate hallway talk. Whenever you, you know, when, when you get to work, if you're working in a building and you see them in the parking lot or in the hallway, hey Bob, hey Mike, hey Sally, have you— have we ever thought about blank, blank, blank? Ideas that come from relationships, hallway talk, generally will get you more opportunities in an organization than try to find a time to gather and meet with them.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: Um, I've, I've experienced that so many times. The other thing is that what key leaders want, if you want to talk to them about an idea, what is it, Missouri's the Show-Me State? You got to show them where it's happening. I saw this company Uh, I did some research on it, and this is what they're doing. Um, but to go north on somebody, there's— rather than going right at them, you can go around and come back the other way. That's a great skill to learn. Mhm.

Sara Emmerson: You have, um, worked at many great organizations. You have started your own organization. You have even transitioned out of organizations and started new ones. What would you say as someone that's worked inside somewhere as the employee and then someone who's been an owner of the corporation, how does the risk factor shift and what different risks do we need to be taking?

Stan Endicott: Anything that is worth risking is worth saying goodbye to. Um, I've had— I've been involved in some great organizations. I've started a couple of my own, but the relationships with the people that, that we worked with will go on for the rest of my life. And, uh, the other thing you got to realize is that if you're, if you're at the beginning of risking to start something, if you just look at the timeline out 10, 15, 20, 30 years, It's going to be Stan who. I started a company that I, uh, was with for 20 years, and 2 years ago I stepped away. And I love these people, and we were close. And now there's people in that organization that don't even— that have— it's Stan who now. Mm-hmm. Like, don't put your life on top of an organization or a job that everything depends on that.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Build your life, take risks of improving your life and your integrity, your skill, your accountability, and that will work in any situation. Mm-hmm.

Sara Emmerson: How do you know when it's time to take a new risk and to, to leave or to sell the company or to, to start again?

Stan Endicott: Well, the one thing I've, I've learned, whether it's a hobby or a job, or, uh, do things before you need to.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: Like, if you are thinking about— if you're in a job or a situation and you call a friend, or you— maybe a person to whom you're accountable at the company or at the organization, you go, well, I've decided to take a different job. I think I'm going to do this now. And you always want them to respond with kind of a grin, but with a, you're kidding, as opposed to, we understand. And so if you wait too long, uh, the pain of leaving gets heavier and heavier.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: But be willing to take a risk and take a leap And sometimes it's financial risk. But knowing when to stop something or to— I believe that the only way that new thoughts can come to us are through mental impressions. You know, I'm a Christian and I believe in the Holy Spirit with all my heart, and I believe he, he leads me to a lot of interesting things. But if you are— if you're at a point in your life, what are— what are you keenly interested in? And you go start looking for it and start talking to people that want to do it. Um, That's how I, that's how I have made it through my, my life, my, my career.

Sara Emmerson: So find the people that are already doing what you want to do and are a few steps ahead of you and go and hang out with them.

Stan Endicott: The 2 most important things that I would tell you on this podcast for the people that are listening to it The 2 most important things in life to get you through life are these 2 things. Number one, be a reader. Uh, that can be also synonymous with researcher.

Sara Emmerson: Mhm.

Stan Endicott: Be, be a reader. Now, I, I have quite a few books in my office and home. I've never read any of those books front to cover, front to back. I look at— I buy a book, I look at the chapters, I go, that looks pretty interesting, so I'll read that one. Then I'll go back, I highlight them, go back. Or the ones I'm listening to.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: On Audible. But be a reader, be a researcher, be interested in finding what's out there. And with AI now, it makes it even quicker and more broad. It's very helpful. Be a reader. Second thing is, is move to where the people are who are doing what you want to do. Now, whenever I was 25 years old, that meant if I was going to be a music producer, I couldn't do it in Southern Illinois. I had to move somewhere.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: So move to where the people are who are doing what you want to do. And the people that are successful, you seek them out and ask for a conversation with. I've done it so many times.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: And it's not a matter of trying to find big shots, the important people. It's not that. It's a matter of, like right now, I just sent an email to, uh, the president of, uh, Korn Ferry. Because of a book he wrote, had the top— had the theme on it called Grace. Forget the exact title, but I sent him an email. I've not heard back from him yet. I'm a big fan of Fast Company magazine. Get on their email list and read their emails daily.

Sara Emmerson: It's very good. Yeah.

Stan Endicott: And I sent them an email, uh, 4 years ago offering to work for them for free for a month.

Sara Emmerson: Have you heard back yet?

Stan Endicott: Nope.

Sara Emmerson: Nope.

Stan Endicott: I love it. And I may try it again.

Sara Emmerson: You should. You should. Um, what would you say to parents whose kids are taking risks and it feels scary? Like, thinking back of what your parents did, thinking about at you with me and Nate and Crystal? Like, what would you say to parents about their kids taking risks?

Stan Endicott: Watch them to see if, if they really have the ability To improve on something. We used to have a little sign on our refrigerator. You probably don't remember it, but we used to have a sign on our refrigerator. It said, if you want your kids to improve, let them hear the good things you say about them.

Sara Emmerson: Say about them. Yep, I do remember that.

Stan Endicott: In front of others, and then in parentheses, especially old people. Now you'll remember from your childhood of Carl Dupree.

Sara Emmerson: He would buy us ice cream on Wednesdays at Griffith.

Stan Endicott: And, and, uh, every Sunday Carl had the best Dodger tickets for 40 years. He took people to the Dodger games all the time. When Nate was little, he would take Nate When Nate was in Little League.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: Take him all the time. When we would see Carl at church on the weekends, I would say, hey, Carl, yesterday Nate went 3 for 4. He got 2 doubles and a triple, and he had the best game. And I, I let Nate hear me brag about him.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: In front of Carl or with you, if I brag. But when I brag on you, which I still do, All the time is like in front of others. So back to your question about the kids improving or watching them, uh, let them play.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: Let them be playful. Um, I do believe if you have a child in sports, it's far better to let them experience different sports rather than play volleyball for 15 years. I think it's better to let them experience other sports as well. It kind of is a, is a protective coating around burnout.

Sara Emmerson: And, uh, yeah, most good coaches will tell you in offseasons to go play other things. I know for me, that's what they encouraged him to do. So in offseasons from hockey, he'd go play lacrosse, or he'd try— he tried baseball, but they— he kept getting hit with the ball.

Stan Endicott: Well, yeah, I've seen him hit a baseball. It's not, it's not a pretty thing.

Sara Emmerson: He's pretty good at it, but he would tell you—

Stan Endicott: He's pretty dang good at hockey, and that's—

Sara Emmerson: Yeah, he's enjoying it.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: Dad, when we, when we think about taking chances, there's so many people that are out there that have thought about it time and time again. They have an idea, they have a burning desire to do something, but they might have a regret that they haven't done it yet, Or, um, they just don't have the confidence like you talked about. Like, I don't— I believe confidence isn't a feeling. I believe confidence is actually a skill that comes from competence, just like you talked about. Like, you got competent at arranging, um, through your practice, the 4 hours a day for 7 years. So you therefore became competent, uh, competent, right? That competence created the confidence. For you right now, with the people that are listening that are sitting on the edge going, should I take this risk? What should I do to take that first step? What would you say to them?

Stan Endicott: If you can't put it on your calendar, it doesn't count. So in other words, you go, Let's just say that there's somebody listening that, uh, is working in a job they've been at for 5 years and they don't like it. They want to switch, or they may have gotten recently— they've got laid off, lost their job. Mm-hmm. So you can either sit back, complain, or you can Put a strategy together. So how did— how do you do a strategy? No matter what the topic is, the way you would do it— who's 3 people that I know that are smart people that have, that have done well, that I know, that I could talk to them?

Sara Emmerson: Mhm.

Stan Endicott: You call them up and say, This is what— this— these are the things I'm interested. What kinds of opportunities do you think are out there? Well, first of all, if you go to ChatGPT or Claude, you could, you know, if you're like, I like to do this, this, and this, what kind of jobs are out there? It's going to help you.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Just don't ever let anybody accuse you of what they're reading about you or that you've written is AI, because it will destroy you. Write something in and let AI tweak it, and then you tweak, tweak that. That's what I do.

Sara Emmerson: Yes.

Stan Endicott: But anyway, a strategy. So you talk to 3 people and you go, uh, well, I think I might try this, or I might try that. And then you, then you put on your calendar, uh, a week from Wednesday I'm meeting with this person, this person, and this person. And you put a strategy together. You put a timeline together and you get a couple of friends with that will have coffee with you and help you strategize. Who else should I talk to? What am I not thinking about?

Sara Emmerson: Yep.

Stan Endicott: And, uh, I, I have a process called Project 110 that I use that is 3 categories: friends, acquaintances, and heroes. Who are the friends That if something happened to you that was a great, uh, that you got a promotion or a new job or you won something, it would bring these people joy. How many, who do you know that like that in your life? And there may be 3, there may be 30. Second category is acquaintances. I met you at a conference and, uh, thinking about starting this thing, uh, could I talk to you sometime? And the third one is heroes. Who are the— like me trying to get in touch with DeWitt Jones from National Geographic, which I did, and that was a wonderful experience. Or I'm trying to meet Gustavo Dudamel this year, and I have one degree of separation from that. I think I'll be able to do that. But who are those people? And then you put a plan together to write emails to those people, and you get 2 or 3 friends and you go, Okay. These, I'm, I'm writing this email to these 23 people and on, in 3 weeks from Monday, I'm going to push send. And you ask your friends to hold you accountable to get those emails ready and send them out. You just simply have to put things on your calendar and go after it.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Now that's a good grit, by the way.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: That's determination. I think grit can turn into a wasteful, a lot of waste, but determination is really, really important because you can use determination even if what you've been trying doesn't work. Just re— uh, re-aim your determination.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah, that energy and put it towards the thing Uh, the other ideas or, um, in a new direction. Absolutely. What, uh, is one failure? And I hate to just jump into that, but that's what that is. Like, you take risks all the time. What's one that didn't work out that you remember and still think it was worth it?

Stan Endicott: Well, when we moved, when you were 3 years old and Nate was 2, We moved to Seattle.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: That was a big deal. Our parents were both from Illinois, and so to fly to Seattle is a lot different than flying to Southern Cal. It's a long ways up there. It's cold. It's wet. Our parents aren't as likely to come and see us.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: We put up a kind of a curtain between us and our parents because it was so hard to get up there. and I worked at that big church and I didn't like it. Uh, those— we were up there 2 years and it was among about, about the best 2 years that I've had. The one reason is, is because of the confidence it gave me when things didn't go well.

Sara Emmerson: Mhm.

Stan Endicott: So when things are, you know, some— if things aren't going well for you, somewhere in that bucket of not going well, You dig down deep in there and there's some very positive things that are happening. And you gotta dig deep to find it. But that's one example. There's been, I tried to write music for movies.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: And I found this orchestrator in LA that would, Helped me learn to do that. I practiced, I called people, and I didn't get any traction to write music for movies. And actually, I don't have the acumen for technology. And if you're going to be a movie screenwriter orchestrator, you got to have your stuff together for technology.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: And I finally go, you know what, I should probably just build what I have that I'm getting momentum in. And that worked great for me. But I, I wanted to be a music producer— I mean, a movie score producer. I didn't have it. I really wanted to do it. And now when I go to a movie and I hear great music, it just tears my heart out because, man, I wish I could have done that. But hey, I got to, you know, I— when I went to college, I couldn't read music, and I was a music student, so I had to learn how to read.

Sara Emmerson: Wow.

Stan Endicott: So from starting college, fast forward 7 years, I was standing—

Sara Emmerson: To be able to do that.

Stan Endicott: I was standing in front of the LA Philharmonic string section conducting music that I had written in 7 years.

Sara Emmerson: That's amazing, Dad. That's really great. And that's the possibility, though we can't say. And I will say, I don't ever remember a time you or Mom ever telling me that I couldn't do something. Um, but I, I think that was because you didn't say— you didn't have to say that because you guided me towards the things I could do.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: Though I wasn't, I obviously wasn't very good at the soccer or baseball. We tried that and I know that didn't go well. But I would say for, yeah, that was a rough one. But for you, the continued desire to improve and to continue to seek what that, what you keep coming back to, that what you're keenly interested in.

Stan Endicott: Mm-hmm.

Sara Emmerson: Doesn't stop. And what I see so many, so much for people in different stages of their life is, um, they stop dreaming, they stop trying. We talked about that. They stop risking. Uh, you are in a season now where you're creating something that is encouraging people to—

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: Do you want to talk about that?

Stan Endicott: Okay, here's, here, this is great. Here, here's, If you don't feel like you're dreaming, you've got the wrong friends. You've just got to get new friends.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Okay. And the other thing that I want to do, actually, I took your son, my grandson Lincoln, uh, his cousins, uh, Landon and Jack. They were all 19. I did. I took them to Waffle House on their 19th when they turned 19, and we had WH19, Waffle House 19. If you— I think I may try to do this. I want to talk to the corporate Waffle House people, and I want to start the Waffle House Academy. What you need to do is go to a Waffle House and sit Sit next to the cook.

Sara Emmerson: Okay.

Stan Endicott: If you've got a 20-year-old or if you're 20, the best education you can have is to be a cook at Waffle House.

Sara Emmerson: Okay. Why?

Stan Endicott: Fascinating. Because first of all, that's the weirdest people in the world, which I love. I know you do. And But to watch them make food for all of these people so fast, and they do it with— the cooks really are proud to be a cook at Waffle House.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah, who wouldn't want to be?

Stan Endicott: So just go to Waffle House and sit next to the cook. If you're having a bad day, or if you're— if right now, if you're discouraged, just go to Waffle House.

Sara Emmerson: Just go to Waffle House. That's the answer.

Stan Endicott: Sit next to the cook. And I promise you, You're going to walk out of there thinking life is— life could really be great.

Sara Emmerson: Okay. And what would you order? What would your favorite order at Waffle House be?

Stan Endicott: Well, the problem with Waffle House, and this is not good.

Sara Emmerson: Oh my, you just, you just talked it up and now we're talking it down.

Stan Endicott: The problem with Waffle House is they don't have peanut butter.

Sara Emmerson: Oh, you got to bring your own peanut butter. That's right.

Stan Endicott: And they have peanut butter chips, which are just ridiculous.

Sara Emmerson: That is hard.

Stan Endicott: Yeah, that's difficult. And so, but I would order a well-done burnt waffle with about a quart of syrup, and I would put my own peanut butter on it with strawberries. I could— that could last me 3 days. I wouldn't need to eat for 3 days.

Sara Emmerson: Amazing. Amazing. I love it. Um, Dad, I want everyone here to hear a little bit about— I know one I'm really proud of— you wrote a book called Improv Leadership. If any of you want to learn more about leadership and some incredible tools, go on Amazon. You can pick that book up. I'm really proud of that. And I often use in my coaching tools that he talks about in that book. But he's also— you're also still creating and still dreaming and still building. Do you want to tell people about what you're doing now?

Stan Endicott: I read a book 3 years ago called Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. It's written by Chip Conley, who is the vice president of hospitality at Airbnb. There are 11,000 people every day going into Social Security. 5 years from now, there'll be more walkers in America than baby strollers.

Sara Emmerson: Wow.

Stan Endicott: And, uh, there's 105 million people over 65 in America. And the American culture is, uh, seniors in America.

Sara Emmerson: It's—

Stan Endicott: America is getting older at this, at the speed of sound. It's unbelievable.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: So I've realized that people 52 to 75 I don't know what percent, but 95% of them wallow in ambiguity about that 4th quarter of their life.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: The research that I have done says that the most productive life, the most productive decade in a person's life is 60s. The 60s decade is the most productive. And everybody, you know, America is all about youth. The music and the, and the clothes, advertisements, social media. That group of people, 52 to 75, are being overlooked. And I'm developing a company that helps people figure out their fourth quarter.

Sara Emmerson: I love it.

Stan Endicott: Yeah, I'm in my fourth career and I'll have one more after this. And I don't know what that is yet.

Sara Emmerson: I love it. And I'm so proud of that, Dad, because I think that's what continues to keep me and so many other people that know you dreaming is because you, uh, your legacy is that you're, uh, I tr— I don't know. I think you might still be creating new, new stuff when you get to heaven too. I don't, um, but you're just continuing to, to dream into what's next and you don't allow that wallowing. to happen. And I see that through the community that you've created, the conversations that you have, the leaders that you've impacted, and your curiosity. If, I mean, I think anyone that knows you would say you are one of the most curious people, which does take time. If you're out to dinner with him or you're on a walk with him.

Stan Endicott: Well.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah, he's very curious. And if it's supposed to take 15 minutes, it probably will take 45. But that's okay because it continues to encourage just that dreaming.

Stan Endicott: Here's a life lesson for anybody listening. If you are in a situation that is not— that you're not satisfied, you're thinking about moving or changing, and most of you won't do this, I get it. But you should.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Here it is. Let's just say that I know I'm not going to be here very long. I don't like it here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. If you were with me in person, I would convince you to try this. And that is, how can you be better at the job you're in now for the next 3 months than you've ever been before. Mm-hmm. And people hate to deal with that. But is it, is it the way you're, you're not being, you're not doing a good job at your, at your particular, uh, required job? Is it a relationship problem with some of the people? Is it that Yeah, you're driving too far and you get there and you're bad, in a bad mood, or you're doing it totally online. You cannot talk. You cannot keep from trying to do best. So if you do the— if you do better in the next 3 months than you've ever done, one of two things are going to happen. You're either going to— something's going to change. You're going to stay there and you're going to go, man, I'm so glad I got better. That I'll get better. If you leave, it's— I'm so glad that when I leave, that people are going to say, you know, the last few months, he or she has really done well.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah, definitely.

Stan Endicott: But most people are too— they're too wimpy to try that.

Sara Emmerson: But well, and you encouraged me to do that. I, I ended up staying in a, in another, uh, position for a good amount of time and working really hard at it before I started this company and was one of the hardest things that I've done was staying is not an easy thing. Staying— sometimes leaving is, is scary, but is a lot easier than even though—

Stan Endicott: The other thing that does, it gives you great new confidence. I'm a big follower of Jordan Peterson, the psychiatrist, psychologist.

Sara Emmerson: Yep.

Stan Endicott: And there was a boy at one of his gatherings He was taking Q&A from the crowd and 19-year-old kid raised his hand. He said, I have a question for you. And Dr. Peterson said, what is it? He said, I'm 19 years old. I have no idea what I want to do. What do you recommend I do? And he said, find something that you can get good at As soon as possible, whether it's DoorDash or a delivery boy or a volunteer at a school. Do something that you can get good at as fast as possible.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: Now, in your case with Lincoln, your now 20-year-old son, In the last 6, 8, 10 months, he's gotten very good at the food industry besides playing hockey. Because Lincoln has gotten—

Sara Emmerson: Oh yeah, because he's a server. Yep.

Stan Endicott: He's a great server.

Sara Emmerson: He is.

Stan Endicott: And what that has done, it brought him a new kind of confidence that will transfer into the next thing. Dr. Peterson said, if you get good at something as soon as possible, it will give you Uh, the confidence that you need when the next good thing comes at you.

Sara Emmerson: Absolutely. The other thing too, um, that Link did following in your footsteps too is normally at his work they don't hire servers until they're 21, and he was 18, and he's— he kept saying, I really want to be a server. And my husband and I kept saying, ask, ask. Well, they don't hire until they're 21. That's the rule. And we said, we know. Yeah. But you have been there for almost 2 years. You've shown your track record. They know how responsible you are. Ask. And he did. And they said yes. And they trained him and he had to go through a bunch of extra work to do that and, um, things like that. But you've always taught your grandkids and us kids too, um, to ask. It doesn't hurt to raise your hand and to say, what about me? And, um, when he did that, now a bunch of people are saying, well, hey, why, why Lincoln? And they, the people said, well, because he's worked hard and he asked and he was willing to do the work.

Stan Endicott: Absolutely. If you're in a job where you're not making the money you would like to make, one of the most healthy and productive questions you can ask your supervisor is, I have a question for you. And then you pause for 6 seconds and you go, how can I make more money here? And they go, well, more sale. They'll tell you. But what you're doing is you're— first of all, you're going to learn something, but you're showing an interest that you like being there and you want to be there. And you want to be, you want to improve and you want to develop and you want to be productive. That's a great question to ask. It is.

Sara Emmerson: It is. It is a good one. Okay. Speaking of questions, we're almost done here. I'm going to give you a couple rapid-fire questions here, and then we're going to end with one question that I ask every single person at the end.

Stan Endicott: Okay. Yep.

Sara Emmerson: Ready? Okay. Biggest, the biggest risk you haven't, that you've ever taken that you haven't told us about already.

Stan Endicott: Uh, learning to land an airplane when I was 17 years old.

Sara Emmerson: That's a big one.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: A book everyone should read.

Stan Endicott: Zag, Z-A-G, by Marty Neumeier.

Sara Emmerson: That is a good one too. A person who's influenced your life most?

Stan Endicott: My dad.

Sara Emmerson: I thought you were going to say G-Paul.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: A habit that has shaped your success?

Stan Endicott: Being ridiculously curious.

Sara Emmerson: Coffee or tea?

Stan Endicott: What's tea?

Sara Emmerson: Okay, good.

Stan Endicott: Teas are like fancy coffee shops.

Sara Emmerson: Good answer, Dad.

Stan Endicott: The best coffee is Folgers.

Sara Emmerson: Yep. Mountains or the beach?

Stan Endicott: The beach. I don't like mountains. They make— they give me claustrophobia. Claustrophobia.

Sara Emmerson: Pizza or hamburgers?

Stan Endicott: Hamburgers.

Sara Emmerson: What's one thing you're still learning?

Stan Endicott: Grace. Kind grace and kindness.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah. I'm going to break into the rapid fire for one other question before we get to our final one. Dad, how has faith shaped your risk-taking over the years?

Stan Endicott: Well, faith in God, there's only one way to connect to it, and that's through Jesus, his Son, which Jesus claims, there's only way you can get to the Father is through me. So a relationship with Jesus, Holy Spirit, and God, those 3 are tied together, obviously. But I've learned that spirituality is amazingly simple. And if we're created in God's image, people look at spirituality like it's out there by Mars somewhere.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: But spirituality is a conversation you're having with somebody at coffee. Or a friend that you are meeting with to apologize. The Holy Spirit, I've learned that he directs my thinking and helps me with mundane, everyday situations.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: So it's not a matter of On Sundays going to a church and sitting in a worship service or whatever, and then next week we go back. It's literally a friend on your hip.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: It's literally, uh, and as you grow and experience more and more of resolution in your life because of that, your faith gets stronger and stronger and stronger. And Little children, you know, Jesus said, if you really want to know what's important to me, look at the life of a child. So being childlike, and when a kid is 5 years old, they're not looking at the negative things about a situation. All they want to do is just— like when you were little, Sarah, you actually thought that God created the universe for you, which you're on that list, but there's some other people involved as well.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: But anyway, I'm— every day I'm into what God has to say about it, scripture. And, uh, I'm putting my faith— my faith is a big part of my risk.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah. Well, it's knowing that you have that foundation, that there, there's nothing that you can do that's going to take you so far that, that you wouldn't have that foundation to come back to.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: If you have it, looking at faith is almost like a— sometimes I like to look at it like as a trampoline. Like, I— it doesn't matter if I, if I fall, I'm going to have something to catch me when I do and to absorb the, the falling or the failure or the, the hurt. God is always there to help you no matter how.

Stan Endicott: The best, the best book on faith that I've ever read is called Ruthless Trust. By Brennan Manning, a Catholic priest. It's incredible. So that's my favorite book on faith. Good.

Sara Emmerson: All right, one last question for you, Dad. What is one risk that you think everyone should take at least once in their life?

Stan Endicott: Submitting yourself to a frightening activity. Doesn't matter if it's learning how to play guitar for the first time or jumping out of an airplane or interviewing the cook at Waffle House. You have to be willing. To get, to get uncomfortable.

Sara Emmerson: Absolutely. Absolutely. And to stay uncomfortable in, in what we've heard from you today, that, that willingness to continue to subject yourself to that over and over again creates a confidence or creates the ability to do it more and it hurt less or feel a little less risky. Yes.

Stan Endicott: Oh yeah.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: Yeah. You will get better at taking risks if you take risks.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah. Yeah. It is that simple. It really is.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: Yeah.

Stan Endicott: But call 3 people every day without an agenda. If you don't have people that will pick, will pick up the phone when they see your name on it, You got to have some new friends. Yep.

Sara Emmerson: Yep.

Stan Endicott: Relationships are so important and we've been, uh, and it's your responsibility to make, yeah, it's your responsibility to take the initiative for that to become a part of your life. It's not going to come to you. You got to go there.

Sara Emmerson: Correct. So if somebody's sitting there saying, no one calls me, no one reaches out to me. The onus is back on them to be like, well, how many people have you called today?

Stan Endicott: Yeah, your mom, my wife Connie, often asks me, why do you spend so much time talking to people?

Sara Emmerson: She does say that.

Stan Endicott: I go, well, it's kind of where our livelihood has come from.

Sara Emmerson: Not even kind of, it has. And she's good at talking to people too. She talks to people every day. So it's funny that she asks that. No, that's true. Well, Dad, thank you so much for being on this podcast. And you're not just—

Stan Endicott: I'm so proud of you, Sarah. You're doing, you're killing it. And, um, If you want your kids to improve, let them hear the good things you say about them in front of others. So I'm saying it. And, um, and by the way, nothing comes into existence that's not spoken first.

Sara Emmerson: Mm-hmm.

Stan Endicott: So you call up a friend and say, I've got this idea to start a muffler shop, and I just want you to know that I'm thinking about this. What are your Speak it to somebody that cares about you.

Sara Emmerson: Well, and that's what I did about this podcast too. And I've seen you do that so many times, right? We say, hey, I have an idea. I think I'm going to do this. And then we put it just like you said a little bit ago, you put, you put it on the calendar and you put a strategy together for it.

Stan Endicott: Well, I have pre— The one thing that this has proven to me, Sarah, Is all you podcast people, not everybody needs a microphone. And I, I'm very disappointed that there's not a microphone here for me to talk into. It makes absolutely no difference. I've got to get a microphone just because that's what podcast people do.

Sara Emmerson: You should, maybe you should get a microphone. No, not everyone needs one. That is so true. Very, very true, Dad. You don't, everybody does not need a microphone.

Stan Endicott: Yeah.

Sara Emmerson: But I'm grateful for you, not just for this podcast today, but for the example that you've been all throughout my life. You have shown me that taking risks and trusting God and continuing to dream and continuing to be curious is really what builds your relationships, and your relationships is what builds your career and also gives you the knowledge to know when to pivot. And so I am grateful to have a front row seat to your life and the impact that you've had on all of us is, is, uh, great. If people want more information about what you're doing right now with this, uh, helping people in the fourth quarter, where can they go to find out more information?

Stan Endicott: Uh, they could go to our website, which is— first of all, everybody that I know is redoing their website. You've got to be doing— if you're not redoing your website, start.

Sara Emmerson: What are you doing? Right, exactly.

Stan Endicott: Uh, but we are redoing it, and but it's thegrandplan.org.

Sara Emmerson: thegrandplan.org. Yes. Find out that thegrandplan.org, please go check it out. Yeah. And, um, thank you everyone for joining us today for this episode of That Sounds Risky. If today's conversation encouraged you and you want to take a next step, you want to put that strategy towards what you have been waiting to accomplish, um, I want to encourage you to go to sarahemerson.com. And sign up for a free coaching consultation. I can guarantee you that there is something that you can take a risk on. There is something that you can dream towards, and I know that doing it alone can be scary. And so if that is something that, uh, you're needing, go there today. I would love to help you and to have a conversation with you. And remember, the biggest risk isn't failing, it's never becoming the person that God created you to be because you weren't willing to take the step.

Stan Endicott: Totally.

Sara Emmerson: So thanks for being here, and I hope to hear, uh, to hear that you've taken the step, and I hope that you will join us again next time.

Stan Endicott: Bye. Thank you, everybody. Have a great day.